Wednesday, 27 December 2017

THE rift over sharing of seats among MDC Alliance partners
took another twist yesterday as MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora stood
his ground, claiming that he had convinced MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai that
the opposition party would continue fielding candidates in all constituencies
until such time the coalition has finalised its negotiations.

Mwonzora argued the MDC-T and its alliance partners had not
yet signed a specific pact allocating seats to parties in the coalition, and
added that Tsvangirai’s statement to the contrary was based on misinformation.

“I have been in discussions with the president (Tsvangirai)
and we agreed on my position and what I meant as regards the party’s candidate
selection and the alliance,” Mwonzora said.

“Nothing has changed; the MDC will proceed with candidate
selection. As and when an agreement is reached by the alliance partners, we
will ask some of our candidates to step aside, especially those whose chosen
constituencies would have been allocated to another party. We hope all parties
are doing the same and we have communicated this to our members who are seeking
to be confirmed as the party’s candidates.”

This came after Tsvangirai and MDC Alliance spokesperson
Welshman Ncube issued separate statements on Saturday, accusing Mwonzora of
undermining opposition efforts to form a grand coalition to fight Zanu PF in next
year’s elections.

Ncube, who doubles as MDC leader, claimed the parties had already agreed on the allocation and sharing of
constituencies in the seven-member opposition coalition.

In his statement on Saturday, Tsvangirai said: “The
statement … purportedly under my authority, but issued by our secretary-general
(Mwonzora) is unfortunate, misleading and grossly false. I would like to state
categorically that the MDC-T entered into an electoral alliance agreement in
good faith with its partners on August 5, 2017. That agreement includes seat
allocation and is binding on all parties.”

Contacted for comment yesterday, Ncube insisted that
Mwonzora’s statements were meant to derail the coalition efforts.

“I spoke to president Tsvangirai yesterday (Saturday)
before and after he issued the statement. I will not speak for him but I
suggest you talk to him than all of us being taken for a merry-go-round by
Douglas Mwonzora.

“The agreement we signed allocates a seat to each party and
as I speak all parties are working to select their candidates. We agreed that
we will not contest each other from the president to the local authorities and
president Tsvangirai is clear on that,” Ncube said.

He added that the narrative about the non-existence of an
agreement is being pushed by individuals bent on undermining the opposition
alliance agreement.

“It is not sane for anyone to claim that an agreement that
has been in place for six months now is non-existent. If that is the case, then
what we have been doing all along is kindergarten politics,” Ncube said
rhetorically.

But Mwonzora yesterday dug in his heels saying: “The
statement issued by the president (Tsvangirai) was based on a misunderstanding
and misinformation.”

“I suppose it was issued before we met, but we have since
cleared the air. As secretary-general of the party, I have a constitutional
duty to call for candidates’ applications and I must do that within reasonable
time before an election,” he said.

“We are six months from an election and need our members
who will contest the election to raise resources and campaign in time. For now,
however, we need to have them in place and help them raise the necessary
resources in good time”.

“I have not undermined the authority of our party leader;
if anything it is to his advantage that he has pro-active people working with
him who are able to identify concrete issues on time that are likely to affect
the party.

“It has been eight months and we have no agreement
regarding seat allocation within the Alliance. We need these negotiations to be
concluded and as the MDC-T administrator, I want those involved to finalise
this issue now,” the former Nyanga North lawmaker said.

Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said he was not
aware that the former Prime Minister had met Mwonzora.

“I am in the rural areas and have no idea if they met. All
I know is the president issued a statement and I was part of that,” he said.
Newsday